Reflection for the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want.”

This familiar line is the opening to Psalm 23, perhaps one of the most well-known poems in the Bible. It has been set to music, translated in countless renditions, been cited in movies, and painted into image, again and again.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want.

The image of God as shepherd is a familiar one, and comforting, and for good reason, too. It is immensely comforting to have a guide, a protector, whose sole purpose is to care for us, tend to our needs, lead us to safe places to eat and live, and who protects us from dangers.

The Lord makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters.

This line is the one that pervades our “shepherding God” images: green hill, calm stream, quietly grazing sheep: the kind of place that busy, tired, stressed humans find to be the picture of serenity and comfort. If only our lives included so much peace and tranquility.

You restore my soul, O Lord, and guide me along right pathways for your name’s sake.

But it is not the call of humans to lie in fields and rest for all of our lives. We are called into the world, where we are led by our shepherd, who also did not avoid the difficulties of the world. God made God’s self into a human person, to live and walk and work among us. Our lives take us along all kinds of pathways, and we hope that we will be able to follow the call of our shepherd into the “right” pathways, for God’s work.

Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Here’s where our picturesque vision of the quiet, green, safe field starts to shatter a little. Valley of the shadow of death? Evil that could be feared? These are not usually part of the scene. But they are very much a part of life. There is no way to get around the difficult, stressful, painful parts of life that leave us wishing for a respite, no matter how brief, in a quiet place. But, we are not alone. The One who became incarnate and walked among us also walked in the difficult, stressful, painful parts of life. Our God knows our valleys and our peaks.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil, and my cup is running over.

God who knows our heights and depths prepares for us what we need: a table for food, blessing with oil, and cups overflowing with goodness, even in the presence of the very things that haunt us, that make us want to fear, though the psalmist declares that, with God, there is no fear. We may not always recognize the good gifts that have been given to us, or the strength of the One who gives them, but our shepherd does care for us, even in the difficult, stressful, painful times.

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

And so the psalm concludes, reminding us that these gifts and God’s protection are not just for one moment, one rest, one brief period of time, but for all the days of our lives, now and forever.

Thanks be to God.

Amen

Reflection for the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

Hear the words of the prophet Isaiah:

Let me sing of my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard:

            My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.

            He dug it and cleared it of stones,

            and planted it with choice vines;

            he built a watchtower in the midst of it,

            and hewed out a wine vat in it

Hear also the words from Jesus’ parable in the Gospel of Matthew:

There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower.

These sound incredibly similar, don’t they? Two vineyards, created to be used by others. Two vineyards full of all the things that tenants would need in order to have a rich, bountiful life. A fence and watchtower for protection, cleared of stones that would keep the vines from growing, wine vats for turning the fertile ground’s harvest into wine… all these are the things are provided by the owner of the vineyard.

And yet, things have gone wrong. Life abundant has been choked out by the thorns of violence. In Jesus’ parable we hear about the tenants, who have been made stewards of this well-created vineyard, and how their greed and squandering of their good fortune has led them away from their role as stewards and into a pattern of violence.

And so what of this vineyard that we have been given? What of the gifts that we have been given to care for? They are different for each of us. We have all been given different gifts, different strengths and passions, different calls in life. How do we care for those gifts, passions, and callings? How do we continue to care for this bounteous vineyard even in the face of the changes that come from simply living life? When the harvest time comes, do we panic and hold hostage the harvest, claiming that because we have been given much, then more is owed to us?

There are many things that threaten us in the world, so much to be afraid of. The media is filled with news of violence both far away and close to home. It often seems that any discussion of politics quickly turns into fruitless argument and not productive dialogue.

Yet, we have been given this vineyard to care for. This vineyard has been created for us, given into our care. What are we doing with it?

My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill…

The One who loves us, who we love in return, has given us this fertile vineyard. Who do we welcome into it? How do we care for it?

Thanks be to God for the gifts we have been given, for the vineyard and for the harvest, for life and for breath, and for forgiveness when we do not tend as we ought.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.

October Newsletter Article

Grace and peace to you from God our Creator and our risen Lord, Jesus the Christ!

Fall is my favorite time of year. I love the crisp air and new smells. I love the changing leaves and cool nights. Maybe it’s because of all the years that “fall” meant “new school year” for me, but I find fall to feel more like a time of newness than any other season, including spring.

Autumn in the church, like in school, is often a season of new things: a new Sunday School year, new ministry opportunities, new ventures, and a break in the repetition of “Sundays after Pentecost” and the beginning of other liturgical events and seasons.

This year, both Trinity and St Stephen’s are in the process of something new that I find exciting, though it may not seem to be at first glance. Both congregations are working on updating their congregational constitutions! Trinity will be having a special meeting, the first congregational step in officially amending their constitution, on October 19^th, and will be reviewing the by-laws after the constitution has been updated. St Stephen’s council is continuing to work on updating and reviewing their constitution, and more information about that will be coming in the following months.

I know, it probably doesn’t sound thrilling, but it really is.

In one sense, yes, updating our constitution is a congregational “chore,” something we “have to” do in order to keep everything nice and tidy. But it is more than that. In both congregations, we are updating our constitutions to match language required by the ELCA’s Model Constitution for Congregations. In updating our legal language and coming into compliance with the larger church’s requirements, we are able to do more as church. Updated legal language provides protection. No one wants to think about the congregation being sued, or having to deal with legal proceedings, but in having language updated as the ELCA requires and recommends, we are protected by the knowledge and research of the wider church (and their lawyers). In updating to be in line with the rest of the church, we are also demonstrating and living out our connection to the whole church. We are not islands. Being members of the ELCA has benefits, and one of those benefits is in being able to draw on the wisdom of the wider church and being connected to it.

But more important than legal language and compliance with ELCA requirements is the fact that in reviewing these essential documents, we are giving ourselves the opportunity to talk about what it means to be church, to be gathered communities of faith. Sure, there is a lot of legal language in the constitutions, but there is a lot of language about faith, mission, and vision (the preamble and first six chapters are all about faith and purpose).

So we have this great opportunity to look at ourselves, to remember that we are congregations with in God’s Church, and to celebrate who we are and talk about how we are and what we do in the world.

Thanks be to God!

Pastor Amanda